Hughes/Powers Dominate At Boston

January 27-28, 2018
Weston, MA

As the men hit the courts in Boston for the first Grand Prix of 2018, storylines abounded. Would three-time National Champions Johan du Randt and Mark Parsons be sharp in their first tournament together in ten months? Could John Hughes and Marc Powers make it three in a row, and add the Boston title to the ones they earned at the Duane Hayden Long Island Invitational and the Western New England Men’s? Could top-ranked Juan Arraya and Jeff Morneau avenge their recent two losses to Hughes/Powers? Or could three-time defending APTA National Champion Drew Broderick win the title with Scott Kahler?

Seven of the eight seeded teams safely reached the quarterfinals, with only Ryan Baxter and Ricky Heath falling in the round of 32 to Adam Gart and Thomas Nolan. Arraya/Morneau (1) dismissed Gart/Nolan in the quarters, setting up a semifinal clash with Broderick/Kahler (3), who took out Martin Bostrom and Sebastian Bredberg (5) in a three-setter.

On the bottom half of the draw, du Randt/Parsons (4) beat Rob Bakker and Tyler Fraser in straight sets after Bakker/Fraser won a marathon Round of 16 match against Alex Bancila and Sven Burus. Hughes/Powers (2) looked like they were struggling early, needing three sets to knock out both Lucas Green/Victor Vidal in the Round of 32, and Brian Compton/Marek Czerwinski in the Round of 16. Once Hughes/Powers got over their early complications, they were unstoppable, and they dismissed Steve DeRose and Jon Lubow (6), 6-1, 6-2 in the quarters.

The top four seeds made it to the semifinals, setting up widely anticipated matches between Arraya/Morneau and Broderick/Kahler, and du Randt/Parsons and Hughes/Powers. Arraya/Morneau had too much offense for Broderick/Kahler, posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory and a spot in the finals. Hughes/Powers left the crowd at the Weston Golf Club in awe with their semifinal performance, downing du Randt/Parsons, 6-1, 6-3 and becoming the only team to hold career wins over both du Randt/Parsons and Broderick/Jared Palmer.

Hughes/Powers were not finished with their dominant display of aggressive shot making and athletic prowess, and knocked out Arraya/Morneau for the third time in a row, earning The Boston Open title with a 6-4, 6-1 victory. After the match, Hughes discussed the incredible run he and Powers have had, noting that, “Even early in the year when we lost a few matches we felt good about our game, and we had this great momentum after Long Island.” Powers added, “This is a sport of momentum, and we have executed well and stuck to our game plan and that has allowed us to keep the momentum going.”